Episode 10: The Test of the Heart

Doctor Phim collapsed beside Lin. Suddenly, her lifespan bar flickered rapidly like a candle flame about to go out. The smell of blood permeated the air. A crossbow bolt was lodged in her shoulder. He pressed a strip torn from his shirt against the wound to stop the bleeding. His sharp eyes assessed the damage with a racing heart, but Lin's faint whisper called him back to his senses. "Doctor Phim... I have always believed in you." He nodded, whether he spoke or not, but his hands began to steady again. He ordered the servants to move Lin into the herbal shop. He took the sharpest knife, passed it through fire, and cleaned the wound with white liquor. Carefully, he removed the wooden splinters. The bolt was soaked in a potent poison, the same kind that had felled villagers like falling leaves. This was no accident, but an assassination plot! He ground fresh herbs with antidote properties and applied them to the wound, then wrapped it tightly. Though Lin had not yet awakened, her pulse began to stabilize. Suddenly, a commotion arose from outside. A man in white led soldiers in, pointing at Doctor Phim, accusing him of being the cause of the plague. "This man pretends to be a doctor, hoping to seize the city!" Doctor Phim gritted his teeth, but before he could respond, Lin's faint voice sounded. Her fingertips twitched at the hem of his shirt. "Doctor... the real antidote... my father... hid it under the floor of the medicine storage room..." Her words trailed off as the man in white raised his right hand, and several more bolts were aimed at him from all directions. Doctor Phim stood, spreading his arms to protect Lin's body with strength. Though he knew the path ahead would be fraught with danger, he knew the truth was about to be revealed, and the cold-smiling man in white was afraid of something. "Do you think you can stop me?" The man in white's voice trembled slightly. That was the weakness Doctor Phim had been waiting for.